Since Hanna moved away
In a lovely little poem Judith Voist expresses marvellously the ache of a child's heart; but she really means to speak for all our hearts when we lose someone very dear to us, doesn't she? Read this and tell me it doesn't do that very thing. You've known times like these haven't you and you might even be going through one now.
The tires on my bike are flat
the sky is grouchy gray
At least it sure feels like that
since Hanna moved away
Chocolate ice cream tastes like prunes
December's come to stay
They've taken back the Mays and Junes
since Hanna moved away
Flowers smell like halibut.
Velvet feels like hay.
Every handsome dog's a mutt
since Hanna moved away.
Nothing's fun to laugh about.
Nothing's fun to play.
They call me, but I won't come out
Since Hanna moved away
This is one of the things Christians love about knowing that God is around and that in Jesus Christ he has given assurance that no relationship committed to his care is ever finally lost. It doesn't matter how long it's been out of sight or beyond our reach; doesn't matter how profoundly lost it feels; one day because we're all together in Jesus Christ we'll turn a corner in a better world and there she'll be, there he'll be, there they'll be—all smiles and well and as warm as ever you knew them.
William Cowper took comfort in knowing that and ended a letter to a beloved family friend like this: "There is not room enough for friendship to unfold itself in full bloom in such a nook of life as this. Therefore I am, and must, and will be, Yours for ever."
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.